As many of you already know, the USDM Accord equipped with the A20AX engine came with axles of 2 different length. The left side axle is almost 2 times longer than the right side axle. This is because the transmission is placed on the right side of the car. That kind of setup is not bad but not ideal for higher performance engines like the B20A. The way to get rid of torque steer is to use an intermediate shaft and equal length axles. Honda used that kind of setup on the B20A. This shaft is placed between the transmission and the driveshaft itself making it virtually an extension of the transmission.
A lot of people buying B20A from engine importers will not get the proper intermediate shaft for their engine or will not get any shaft at all. Some people got an automatic B20A shaft for their manual transmissions because the manual is so rare. The problem is that the automatic halfshaft will not work with a manual transmission because it is longer than the manual shaft.
Fortunately, I found a way to get around this. All of the B20A intermediate shaft parts are available in America (except 2, marked in bold).
Here is an exploded view of the B20A intermediate shaft with their corresponding part numbers
Parts in red are not available in America
2- 44510-SF1-000 SHAFT, HALF $101.98 Manual Transmission
2- 44510-SE0-980 SHAFT, HALF ¥9300 ~ $83.46 Automatic Transmission
3- 44511-SE0-980 SUPPORT ¥3700 ~ $33.20
4- 90102-SF1-010 BOLT, FLANGE (10X1.5) ¥205 ~ $1.84
5- 90165-SE0-000 BOLT, FLANGE (10X37) $1.74
6- 91057-SD9-008 BEARING, HALF SHAFT $23.54
7- 91260-SD9-013 SEAL, HALF SHAFT $7.30
8- 91262-SE0-003 SEAL, HALF SHAFT $9.96
9- 94510-40000 CIRCLIP (40MM) $0.90
10- 94520-68000 CIRCLIP (68MM) $2.26
I took all the prices from www.torringtonhonda.com
All the matching USDM part numbers are from an 88-89 Honda Prelude 2.0Si with a B20A5 engine
To have a fully functional B20a intermediate shaft, all you need to do is order the halfshaft support P.N. 44511-SE0-980 (#3 on the picture) from Japan and put it on a B20A5 Prelude shaft. The rest is absolutely the same. If you got an automatic shaft with your manual transmission, keep your support and bearing. just replace the shaft (#2 on the picture) with a Prelude shaft. You do not need to order anything from Japan.
Unfortunately, if you have an automatic transmission and need the intermediate shaft, the automatic transmission shaft will have to be ordered from Japan with the proper support. Since most of people here want manual transmissions on their B20A, it's less of a problem.
The bolt #4 on the picture can be replaced with a Prelude bolt too. The part number is not important for this one.
Once you have your B20A intermediate shaft ready, you will need to use another right side axle as your left side axle. Remember, we're using equal length axles here. This is why we'll be using a right side axle on the left side.
However, you will run into a small problem. The Accord inner joint has splines only about half of the joint length while the JDM inner joint has splines on it's full length.
The USDM joint is on the left while the JDM joint in on the right.
If you read the whole story so far, you now know that the B20A shaft is the same as a B20A5 shaft (Prelude 2.0SI 88-89). This also means that the inner left side CV joint is the same.
The Accord and Prelude used the same outer joint.
The part number is : 44310-SB2-983 JOINT, INBOARD $220.76
I'm sure you noticed how expensive this joint is. This is because Honda sells the whole inner joint. You cannot buy the outer shell with the full length splines.
I suggest that you hit the junkyard and look for busted Prelude left side CV joints. You can then swap the outer joint from the Prelude on your Accord right side joint.
While you're at it, if you got an auto intermediate shaft with your manual B20A, grab the Prelude one for a couple of bucks and install the Accord support on it.
Voila! you can now use equal length axles on your B20A.
N.B. This information does not apply to the A20A. The A20A engine does not have any place on the engine to bolt the halfshaft.
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